My faith calls me to express my values through my acts and my relationship with others. I took part in a nonviolent direct action campaign against the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline because these extreme extraction projects always harm those already marginalized the most.

I will not allow my inaction to read as consent. That’s why I locked down to halt construction of KXL South and that’s why I’m suing Wood County for the actions of their police officers. I doubt that my treatment was the first time these officers abused those under their power but hopefully my lawsuit can help make it one of the last.

Below is the story of my action, originally published on October 1, 2012:

When Henry Miller (1891-1980) returned from France to America in 1939, he was quick to identify air conditioning as both a metaphor and a real cause of a lamentable degradation of life. His first writing upon his return, published as “The Air Conditioned Nightmare” in 1945, was based on his road trip across America in 1939.

Looking at this book from the 21st century, it is surprising to read his tirades against Americans’ submission to technology. We have come to think of the 1930s as an economically depressed time when industry regressed and people were forced back to agrarian self-reliance. The contemporary perception is that the reaction to the excesses of materialism didn’t become apparent until the 1960s when baby boomers rebelled against the affluence and suburban culture of the 1950s.

But in every crisis there is transformation, and Miller was able to notice the changes going on in spite of the Depression. In the same way that iPhones became an embedded item in our economy regardless of the crash of 2008, there were similar changes in the 1930s.

Police departments around the country have been retaliating against community activists who are doing work to hold police accountable for their actions. The message from police is clear: If you do anything to hold us accountable, we will ruin your life.

Two days after Mike Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, Ezell Ford, was shot by two LAPD officers three times while lying on the ground. Eyewitness testimonies contradicted police reports saying Ford tackled one of the officers, and reached for his gun so Ford’s South Los Angeles community took to the streets to protest.

One of the most visible and vocal protesters was DaMonte Shipp, known publicly as Ceebo Tha Rapper. Ceebo, lead many community demonstrations where protesters confronted LAPD, shaming and taunting them. In one demonstration the protesters knelt with their hands on their heads with their backs turned to the police and started to taunt the police to shoot them so that they too could go on paid administrative leave like the officers that shot Ezell Ford.